SIMON Rimmer is one of those TV chefs who have been around for years, consistently appearing on a host of TV shows but never really breaking through into the limelight.

But now he’s finally got his own self-titled series, and he couldn’t be happier about it.

Simon Rimmer’s Dinners sees the 46-year-old chef, from Wallasey on the Wirral, solve the culinary problems of different families and groups of friends. While he loved helping out, his reasons for enjoying the series so much are far less altruistic.

“The best thing about it was having people cooking for me,” he says. “I never get invited to dinner parties because no one wants to cook for a chef, but I had 10 people cook for me on this series. That’s more than have cooked for me in the last 10 years.

“They were all nervous, but I’m actually a really easy dinner date. If someone else is cooking for me, I don’t care if it’s beans on toast or an elaborate gourmet meal, anything you put in front of me is brilliant.”

Unlike some food shows that make you feel guilty if you don’t have time to prepare a fresh meal each day for your family, Simon’s series accepts that food, no matter how much we enjoy it, might not always be at the top of our list of priorities.

“Most shows don’t allow for life getting in the way,” he says. “Hopefully the people I visited will come out of it the other side with changes for the better, and they’re all problems viewers can identify with.”

So who would be his dream cooking partners? “I’d like to cook with Kenny Dalglish, because he’s my ultimate hero,” says Simon, a lifelong Liverpool fan.

“I might not get much out of him but I’d be in awe of him. Equally, I’d like to cook for Cheryl Cole, but that’s probably for slightly different reasons.

“I’ve got this vision of her just wearing an apron. I think I work on that level for dream cooking partners, football and girls. I can certainly think of worse ways to spend a Sunday morning.”